Canadiens draft Collberg, Thrower in second round; Bozon in third

Sebastian Collberg (pictured) is a Swedish RW the Hockey News Draft Guide had at 14. Not big – 5’11”, 174 – but a clever scorer who shone on the gold-medal team at the World Juniors. McKeen’s Draft Guide also had Colberg at 14.

An assessment: Collberg possesses a great mix of blazing speed and and incredible shot, a combination that makes him lethal coming off the rush. Despite his small frame, the Swede isn’t afraid to take the puck in and out of the dirty areas. His production this year is by no means an accurate representation of his upside at the NHL level. In fact, his performance at the 2012 World Junior Championship is a better gauge of what’s to come in North America for Collberg.

Collberg at the Combine:

And his Shootout goal:

• Dalton Thrower, a defenceman with Saskatoon of the W who, as the Dickensian name suggests, is a fighter and took on massive Tom Wilson, giving away three inches and 25 pounds but hammering out a draw in the Prospects Game. Michel Therrien likes tough guys who can play. THN has him at 29th, McKeen’s 38th.

Thrower told NHL.com he was honoured to be drafted by the Canadiens and said he models his game on Kevin Bieksa’s.

• The Canadiens’ fourth-round pick, 94th overall, was Brady Vail, a centre, born in North Carolina, who plays junior for a great organization in Windsor:“A tireless worker, Vail wins a ton of board battles and is never afraid to get himself into traffic. He has a hard, accurate shot and a quick release. Vail is also a good passer, and has decent vision to find the open man in the offensive zone.”

• At the top of the fifth round, the Canadiens took Charles Hudon, a small LW from the Q, with the 122nd pick. THN rated him 80th.

Scouting report on Hudon: “The one thing that stands out to me when watching Charles Hudon is his ability to spot openings on the ice and his capacity to take full advantage of them by his superior skating and puck handling ability. He is a rather undersized player but he keeps his body low and is hard on the puck making it difficult for opponents to get the puck off him.

The Canadiens haven’t had a second-round draft choice since 2008, when Danny Kristo (56th overall) was their top choice of the draft, the first-round pick having been dealt to Calgary in the Alex Tanguay deal.

On L’Antichambre after the draft Friday night, Gaston Therrien says the Canadiens could have bettered Carolina’s offer for Jordan Staal by trading the number 3 pick, Lars Eller and Yannick Weber to the Penguins and thereby securing “a number one centre for the next 10 years”.

1,061 Comments

One thing that struck me about the Canadiens’ draft was how six of the seven picks were forwards, with a preponderance of skilled players vs. the ‘two-way’ work ethic types. That is good news for those who long for a return to an exciting, more offence-oriented brand of hockey, if not quite the old firewagon style popularized by the team in the glory years. A look at the farm team and what prospects there were in the system revealed a definite lack of forwards with offensive flair; the more surefire prospects were defencemen Jared Tinordi and Nathan Beaulieu. Longer shots like Brendan Gallagher and Danny Kristo showed an offensive dimension, and then the talent dropped off to Hail Mary candidates.

So with the shelf restocked with great to good prospects like Alex Galchenyuk, Sebastian Collberg and Tim Bozon, as well as intriguing long shots like Charles Hudon and Erik Nystrom, the balance has been re-established. We’ve got some forwards coming in the pipeline, and not just pluggers. It’s almost as if the Timmins team did so intentionally, although both he and Marc Bergevin claim that their was no preference given to position, that they only drafted the best available players.

Or did they? Are they executing a plan skillfully engineered by Pierre Gauthier and Bob Gainey before their unceremonial ouster in March? Have the Canadiens set in motion a machine that will inevitably manufacture a Stanley Cup championship?

It’s an oft-repeated fact that NHL defencemen take longer to mature than forwards, usually a season or two longer. Goaltenders usually need even longer, maybe another season or two.

So have the Canadiens harnessed these forces and are they now poised to reap the benefits of this phenomenon? Have they timed these waves to coalesce together in a tsunami of talent that will sweep any and all that dare to confront it?

Let’s imagine Pierre and Bob, meeting by themselves in a twenty-person boardroom, patting each other on the back, replete with confidence that the first stage of the operation has been successful: Carey Price is the franchise goalie every team seeks but few actually find. He’s young, has been tempered in the fire of the playoffs and the cauldron of fan expectation, and seems to have come out stronger. He’s 24, and will reach the peak of his athletic ability in about four years, and stay there for another five years or thereabouts, at least. He may be a freak like Martin Brodeur who doesn’t fade in his thirties.

In any case, you have your franchise goalie, and you start to plan for the future. To build a consistent winning team and Cup contender, you need to do it through the draft, as trying to do so in free agency is impossible in a salary cap league. So you know you’re going to stockpile draft picks and prospects, but to have a chance, it really helps when your team matures in sync, so that you’re not just adding rookies while your veterans are declining, and barely keeping up with the treadmill. Ideally, you have a bunch of youngsters who blossom in the NHL around the same time, with a few support players and veterans, à la Chicago Blackhawks or Pittsburgh Penguins. How do you ensure that they all peak at the same time?

You start with defencemen. You already have P.K. Subban and Josh Gorges, but need some talent up front, the fans say? Damn their pusillanimous hides. You don’t care what they think, you barely condescend to speak to them once or twice a year. So you draft Jared Tinordi and Morgan Ellis. When you make a trade you take a defenceman back, any defenceman, like Greg Pateryn or Mark Mitera. Some of these guys are bound to turn out.

The next year, with the hounds baying for more forwards, you double down, and draft still more defencemen, Nathan Beaulieu, Josiah Didier, Magnus Nygren, Darren Dietz and Colin Sullivan. You sign European defencemen, guys like Raphaël Diaz, and long-lost prospect Alexei Emelin. You can’t have too much of a good thing. Fans schfans. Direct them to the gift shop. Point at the legends dropping the puck at centre ice, to open the loss to the Hurricanes with a bit of pomp. You know what you’re doing. They’ll grovel with gratitude in a few years.

Now with the system teeming with defenceman talent that needs to percolate, you have successfully manoeuvered to the end of Stage 2. You sit back, have a cucumber sandwich with Perrier to celebrate, and plan for Stage 3. You’ll need forwards. Talented forwards. Top of the draft forwards. But never fear, you’ve skillfully dragged down team morale and left gaping holes in the roster, and a couple of fortuitous injuries later, your squad is settling towards the bottom of the standings. You ensure the draft position by poisoning the well, savantly-timed coaching shuffles, questionable trades. You’re scouting some talented 18 year olds and dreaming of Nail Yakupov when…

You’re ousted in a palace coup. Some ignoramuses who never understood you or the way you work slit your throat and dumped you in a ditch. The plan will now fail.

Except the assassins are morally irresolute. They take pity on your young protégé and spare his life. He retains control of the machine, and continues your mad experiment, unknown to the self-satisfied courtiers he pretends to serve.

Now a different wave builds to merge with the others: Alex Galchenyuk, Sebastian Collberg, Tim Bozon, Charles Hudon, Erik Nystrom. A wave that will peak quicker than the other two, but at exactly the same time….

You kinda diss cucumber sandwiches and Perrier… I see you have never ‘had to go’ on a picnic with a snooty-tooty coed just to get in her pants. You whip out a self-grown properly ‘cut’ cucumber (for sandwiches my boy for sandwiches) and some Perrier… and your only worries after that is ants in your pants.

By Jove, I think you’ve got it! Nicely put and plausible, providing cause for great hope. Well done, sir!
Let us now pray a lockout doesn’t throw a spanner into the works.
Or did BG and PG prepare for that possibility as well?

While many think the Leafs won this deal, salary is one of the reasons I think Phillys won.

Relatively speaking Luke Schenn as a defenseman was considered more blue chip than JVR as a forward. Luke Schenn is probably entering the key years of his career. And at that contract for 4 more years, if he breaks out and becomes the hard-nosed physical D-MAN he was projected to be the impact on his team would be greater than JVR’S on the Leafs. I think JVR will help the Leaf for a season or two and not at any outstanding level. Today Leafs won; tomorrow Flyers win.

I think I agree with you. Schenn will do much better in Philly than he did in Toronto. As for JVR, he’s very good, but stands out more in the playoffs than in the regular season. I don’t know how he’ll fit in with the Leafs or with Randy Carlyle. At the end of last season, the team and coach looked like being a mismatch. Also, they still have no goaltending.

One thing I’m wondering about, but am too lazy to actually research, is what a draftee says to the local press after being drafted by the New York Islanders or the Columbus Blue Jackets. In Montréal, we keep hearing the same things, how excited they are to be part of such a prestigious organization. We know these kids are trained to deal with the media and their responses are rehearsed, but what about if they’re Long Island bound? What’s the script then?

With the Canadiens or the Leafs, you have an easy job talking about the history and rabid fan base. The Wings and Devils you mention the strong organization, the Rangers you talk about the Big Apple and Mark Messier, the Kings is easy with the beaches and Hollywood and a Stanley Cup to boot. Southern cities have climate and young fanbases to conquer, Nashville has a special character you can refer to, and the unspoken aspiration to also bed Carrie Underwood eventually, which confers a genuine smile to the starry-eyed prospect. In like fashion, the western Canadian teams have unpluggable gushers of puck bunnies, which you can refer to as the ‘awesome fans’.

So what about the Islanders?

“I really excite about grrreat trrradishin of Mike Bossy a decade before I vaz borned.”

“I’m really stoked about the facilities. The Canadiens’ already have a decade of use or more, the Islanders will be brand spanking new when they get around to starting construction, in five or ten years or so, and we can then move out of the rusting shit pile that is Nassau Coliseum!” (High-fives Larry Brooks)

“Onstage I got to to shake hands with eccentric nutjob owner Charles Wang. I can’t wait to meet lifelong Islanders like Alexei Yashin and Rick DiPietro. Maybe some day I can be a goodwill ambassador like Pat Lafontaine for a few months before I get kicked out the back door too.”

They should draft a solid goaltender next year.Yes! We have Price but i think they should do that because
1-Even if hes not that kind of person, i think he can go lazy knowing there will be no contest for #1 goaltender.Sometimes, competition brings the best out of a player.Really hope the new coaching staff can bring the best out of Carey Price.
2-We need at least a goalie who can perform perfectly in the AHL.Being able to reach playoffs and knowing they wont have to be scared each time there is a shot against, young canadiens prospects will have an easier developpement for years to come compared to the awful 2011-2012 season.
3-Fully developped, we can get draft picks and prospects that will fill our needs.Get more moves when it comes to trading.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that on July 1st the Habs sign North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell to fill that spot. Already been to two Habs prospect camps and all the buzz out of UND is that he’s leaving (they can’t confirm Montreal, but their beat guys are saying Dell is gone to the NHL). Since we’ve been the only team giving him tryouts, put two and two together here, and I thinlk we’re grabbing him.

“I’ve heard that it’s a foregone conclusion Dell will be signing a pro contract this summer. North Dakota has graduated one goalie, and has a freshman and a junior transfer coming in next season. If Dell opted to return to school, UND would have four goaltenders, three of which would be fully capable of starting.

“I would be VERY surprised if Dell didn’t sign as all signs point in that direction. And Montreal has to be the leading candidate IMO, particularly considering the “flirtation” last summer and that he will again be attending the Canadiens’ development camp this summer. If I hear anything else, I’ll be sure to share.”

Nice hearing Trevor Timmins doing a recap of the players drafted today. His descriptions are way more illuminating than Pierre Gauthier’s cursory introductions last year…

An interesting aspect is how he described Brady Vail and Erik Nystrom, as both being in organizations with good people in the coaching staff to help them develop. It points to the vagaries of drafting 18 year olds who aren’t even finished growing up yet. When you’re confronted with prospects with lots of development in front of them to ever hope to make the NHL, you might as well draft kids who will be in a proper environment to do so. It may be obvious to some posters, but it was an insight for me. When faced with drafting kids who are essentially equal in talent and potential, maybe grab the kid who’s from a solid organization with good coaches.

The issue you bring up is what explains his ‘drop’ to the second round. He was productive in his age-group play, but was used sparingly and as a fourth-liner when playing against men. Trevor Timmins discusses it in this clip, around the 2:30 mark specifically.

We only did 80 guys, I was thinking I wanted to make sure we had our 3rd rounder on the site. To end up with 6 of our top 65 is remarkable and a perfect day for the Habs. Good work by our scouts and some good luck that the Habs kept having guys gall to them.

I couldn’t repeat that next year even if I try, which is whyt I’m so excited about today.

Watching these kids I really feel we’ve had a special, special draft. I expect this to be better than 2007 for us, and we should have McD to go along with PK and Patches out of that draft.

We got my personal #2 prospect (4th on the site) 2 of my top 10, 4 of my top 35, and 6 of my top 65. That’s a ridiculous haul.

Hey HFX, I’ve been saying we should get Ott for a couple of years. He’s a great agitating tough guy, but like so many of those guys, they play best with the team that brung ’em. The Stars drafted him in 2000. He won’t be the same player elsewhere.

Pierre LeBrun of ESPN suggesting that Steve Ott would be a good fit for us. Tough, physical, the kind of player you hate to play against but would love to have on your team. He’s versatile enough to take on top-six minutes but best suited for a third line role. Can play centre or the wing. Cap hit of $2.95mil for two more years.

Might be a cheaper option than Prust on the open market, and we have the Gainey connection with Dallas…surely a Weber/Diaz along with a pick or two from next year’s draft? Maybe they’d even consider taking Kaberle off our hands???

Ed next year Duclair and Drouin will be first rounders again from Lac st Louis, the program rocks, and Midget AAA in Quebec is some aesome Hockey, so fun to scout and predict the next great talent from QC

Very happy with MB and TT drafting. Haven’t been this pumped for a draft in a while. Really like the Brady Vail pick, maybe I’m biased since I watch lots of Windsor Spitfire games. He’s a similar mold to Adam Henrique. Shocked to see Collberg, and Bozon still there. Dalton Thrower just sounds vicioius. Great job. MB is so modest, saying how they missed on a couple guys. Gotta love that!

Hudon will be bigger for the HABS than Kristo…. absolutely more talent and perseverance and focus on hockey.

Oh say did you see in Bergevin’s presser how he mentioned Bournival… then kinda said ‘and others’. But the way he said Bournival and (I forgot the other player he mentioned you can tell he’s impressed. I think he was answering a question about whom he sees making a push for jobs.

…don’t get Me wrong, I’m as happy about Our choices as a puppy running through a grass field on a summer day
…only ONE thing in My craw
…that was Chiarelli’s selection of Matthew (edit: Malcolm) Subban …and, Matthew’s (edit: Malcolm’s) purgatory of having to wear that evil Beelzebub B
…the Bs’ selection of M. Subban was pure mischief and intent 🙁
…grr

the best part about picking the young guns, is knowing that PG/JM are no longer around.
JM seemed to have 0 respect for young players and had no problem throwing them under the bus if they did one thing wrong, without even talking to them.
PG had no respect for anyone
——————
The 2010-11 Stanley Cup was not won, but given

yep, first draft that I have had any real optimism for a while. Not that there was a problem with the picks, you just knew that any character was just going to be bled out of these kids. Hearing Bergevin talk about Thrower and being impressed with his commitment told me that there is a guy that is in tune. The space cadets in the management were so detached all these years, it really made me sick to my stomach. “We identify a certain kind of player”…, yeah you sure did and you got about 20 of them and we sucked and got humiliated.

I truly think Gally will be a future captain very soon when he plays for the Habs. He talks so many languages and he can speak to Markov in his native tongue. He can speak english. He’s going to speak french soon. He’s gonna wear the C sooner than later. Me thinks.

“Responding to the media , or playing to the media, or listening to the fans is the quickest way to start losing” – Sam Pollock

I’m getting the feeling that the current core, let me rephrase, some of the veterans, will not be around to see the finished product.

People are predicting Gomez will be gone one way or another this summer. Regardless of when he goes, he won’t be around when our young players begin making an impact.

Kaberle and Markov should be gone by the trade deadline in the 2013/14 season at the latest as well as Gionta.

Bourque and Plekanec have longer contacts but I can’t figure these two guys being kept on for the new era either. Maybe by then (2014/15) Plekanec accepts a demotion to 3rd line center and PK duties and perhaps by that point Cole joins him on that line for his remaining days.

2014/15 is when Price, Pacioretty, Subban lead the way with Galchenyuk and Eller over Beaulieu, Tinordi, and hopefully guys like Bournival, Leblanc and Gallagher. I realize there are now others like Collberg, Thrower and a series of picks next year as well to consider.

What I’m saying is that it might be a fun year this year and maybe we make some noise but we really shouldn’t expect anything to go our way for at least two or three years. If it does it is a total bonus.

I wish this site had forums so we wouldn’t have to go over the same topics. I suggest:
-Shit Gaston Therrien said
-Shit Don Cherry said
-Shit Ron MacLean said
-Shit PJ Stock said
-Shit Bruins fans said
-Shit PM said

Enough with all this Staal talk already! Seriously if you cant read the writing on the wall with the circumstances surrounding his trade to the canes than you are missing a chromsome or something. He wanted to go to play with his brother PERIOD. I wont even get in to the obvious reasons why trading for him would have been foolish because it should be painfully obvious as to why that would be a bad idea.

The whole thing is such a Non topic that the amount of chatter it has generated makes me question the amount of time people have on their hands/or how desperate they are for ratings.

Only in Montreal can you have a steal of a draft and still get bashed for what you did not do. No matter how foolish it would have been.

P.S. For all the wheeling and dealing of Paul Holmgren and Brian Burke over the past 3 years what has it got them? JACK SHIT. People who are going to compare what MB didnt do to what the above mentioned GM’S did do are funny. Considering your essentially saying that your GM is weak because he hasn’t followed the lead of two GM’S who haven’t won a thing.. One has not made the playoffs in close to 5 years and continues to shuffle parts around hoping for a miracle. While the other has been runner up for the better part of a decade. Not to mention his last big trade from this time last year just won the Cup for another team.

According to guys like Bob McKenzie and Pierre Lebrun, Jordan Staal had made it clear to the Penguins that Carolina was his preferred destination. The moment he did that and knowing he was a UFA next year, its quite clear why Montreal didn’t go after him.

Never mind the fact that he’s never produced like a Number 1 Centre, and I don’t know why we would want to give up Alex Galchenyuk for that. Younger, Higher Ceiling, Lower Cap hit for at least the next 3 years. And will grow with the rest of our core.

There is an enduring honeymoon between Canadiens fans and Marc Bergevin, one that can only grow stronger after yesterday’s draft, which hauled in a bounty of talented forwards, which our system was in crying need of. Alex Galchenyuk and stealing Charles Hudon on the cheap in the fifth round will buy him a lot of good will.

Or will it? There are grumblings in social media that he could have gotten into the Jordan Staal derby, or gone after James van Riemsdyck. The fact that he didn’t is putting him an unflattering light compared to wheelers and dealers like Mike Holmgren and Brian Burke.

I think it’s ridiculous to fault him for not landing Mr. Staal or van Riemsdyck, since both of these trades occurred in special circumstances.

Gaston Therrien of RDS was quite vocal on the Jordan Staal trade, he’s leading the charge there. He contends that the price paid by Carolina was quite low for a stud centreman who in Montréal “would have taken care of the centre situation for the next ten years.” A package of Lars Eller and the third overall pick from yesterday’s draft would have easily matched the Carolina offer he argues. He also pondered whether the Penguins did Mr. Staal a favour by sending him to a likely landing spot to play with his brother, which he says is madness, since they had offered him a generous ten-year deal which he refused to sign. In that situation, Mr. Therrien says, your team no longer has any obligations to the player, you made him a fair offer, and now must treat him as an asset that you need to get maximum value from.

Detractors of Gaston Therrien were quick to denounce his argument as ludicrous, since Mr. Staal could have walked away next summer as a free agent, but that’s not a sensible counterpoint. I think it’s obvious in the Therrien argument that he’s assuming that the Canadiens would have spoken to Mr. Staal’s agent with the Penguins’ permission and obtained assurances that he would sign a long-term deal, it’s intrinsically in his argument about him being a ten-year solution. If Jordan Staal had not wanted to sign, and indeed preferred going to Carolina or the Rangers has it is posited by many, then the whole discussion stops right there.

In any case, I think the Canadiens were pretty happy with their #3 pick, and while they professed openness to discussions on trades, they were pretty enamoured of Alex Galchenyuk and valued the prospect more than Jordan Staal the player. If the Penguins did call and offered Jordan Staal in exchange for the #3 pick as a starting point, it’s probable the discussion didn’t go very far.

The Canadiens did however try to deal back into the later part of the first round, probably to get a shot at Stefan Matteau, but Mr. Bergevin and Trevor Timmins explained that no team was willing to flip its pick, that they all had a player they wanted to select rather than trade down. This attempt should quell the ‘too passive’ camp somewhat, but evidence often is subordinate to opinion and prejudice.

In the case of the James van Riemsdyk trade, again there are barbs directed at Canadiens management, mainly because he’s a big left winger with some skill and lots of promise and upside, and he would have filled a huge chasm on the current roster. Fans like this one have visions of him playing alongside Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta, and giving the Canadiens another credible forward line that would be tough to match up against.

The problem is, we didn’t have a trading chip like the Leafs had though, one the Flyers wanted. The Leafs had a big young pedigreed defenceman who had fallen on tough times from the fans and media, and would benefit from a change of scenery, and hadn’t lost a lot of his trade value. That’s why this trade happened, not because Marc Bergevin was asleep at the switch. If the Flyers had needed a fleet-of-foot puck-moving defenceman who comes cheap and can help offensively, then we could have entered the discussion with Raphaël Diaz or Yannick Weber. We didn’t have a horse to help fill the Chris Pronger vacuum, so we were out of the running from the start.

This is kind of like when the Canucks traded for Roberto Luongo. The Panthers wanted a significant player coming back, and Vancouver just so happened to have a hulking forward who could snipe goals who needed a change of address in Todd Bertuzzi. Both teams had complementary assets that they could swap. Not all teams can offer what one team wants/needs.

So let’s appreciate the work that was done so far by Mr. Bergevin, the fact that he has built a modern organization with talented hockey people from all over the league, with some former Glorieux to provide a link to the past. Let’s give him credit for retaining our scouting staff and trusting their judgment in the last couple of days, instead of blowing draft picks on short term band-aids. Let’s trust that he seems to understand that the Canadiens won’t be turned into a contender overnight, but over the long term, and the best course of action is to pile up young players and develop them.

I’ll take Brandon Prust or Taylot Pyatt on my team at a reasonable cost and term. Mathieu is also a cost effective option, and I’d bring him back too. A two-way contract is an unnecessary consideration for us, we can pay him his wage in the AHL, we’re not saving a lot of money by doing that.

Yes. Instead of whining about Jordan Staal or accusing Bergevin of passivity in the case of JVR, we should be celebrating the steals we got in this draft. Many scouts see Galchenyuk as the player with the highest ceiling, Collberg was certainly a steal, as were Thrower, Bozon, and Hudon, and Timmins thinks Nystrom could well be the sleeper in this year’s draft. I’m over the moon with the amount of talent and depth we’ve added. With each pick, we got not only the best player available, but a player who fills an organizational need. I think Bergevin and Timmins hit not one but several home runs.

The way I see it, I’m guessing the Habs will lock in Price for a good number of years. That means they don’t need to immediately draft a good goalie prospect. Let’s say they draft one next year, the guy will probably have a good 3 years to develop on his own. In the meantime, hire a good veteran and the Habs are set at the goaltending position.

I read it as 3% who have their wits about them, and 97% not thinking. All 97% of you have absolutely no clue what you’ll get with a player who played all of 2 games last year and is coming off major knee surgery. Staal on the other hand is already very good, very very good.

Well going by the vote, 97% agree with his first pick, Now that a great start. Now how will MT handle this team, and turn the ship around .Can’t wait for training camp. I have this feeling Galchenyuk is going to make the team.

Schenn needed a role model ‘D’ in TO. That wasn’t going to happen with anyone in the organization. He’ll thrive in Philly and turn out to be the nasty d-man Burkie desires…especially with Pronger either playing with or just hanging around the locker room.
JVR…I have no idea how it’ll go for him..

hey every one, i never really post much on here even though its my daily reading along with a few other hab new sites.. that being said i plan to change that now that Bozon is a cansdiens prospect.
i have been living in kamloops BC for just over 5 years now (orginally ontario) but i’m going to pick up my kamloops blazers season tickets to keep an eye on him and try to give any reports i can.
WHAT A DRAFT IM SOOO STOKED FOR THE FUTURE!!!

Meanwhile, I’m going to have more WHL players to scout next season when they play the Vancouver Giants. Darren Dietz, Dalton Thrower and Tim Bozon. I was kind of hoping we’d pick another Giant so I could have a local kid to check out. Kamloops and Regina it is though.

I think the JVR / Schenn trade is one of those win win trades, where both sides are better off.

Luke Schenn gets alot of criticism, but he is a big strong stay at home defenceman who was completely misused by Ron Wilson in his run and gun system. Add to that many rumours that Phaneuf and he don’t get along well at all. I would take Schenn over Phaneuf but that is another issue.

Carlyle I think would have been great for Schenn, but Burke has picked his pony in Phaneuf as his Captain and therefore Schenn is gone. He will do very well in Philadelphia playing the role of a stay at home bang and crash Dman.

We all know how good JVR is, we saw what he did to the Habs in the Playoffs not long ago. Having said that, he did have a significant hip injury.

My point is, Schenn gets a bad rap, he will turn out to be a very solid dman for Philly.

excellent draft – exactly who I was hoping we’d pick at each spot, given availability….can’t believe we had to deal with PG and JM – clowns…this Habs team is gonna be really good in a few years and decent next year…just sign Staubby, get rid of Gomez, Darche and Weber – replace with top 6 FA winger, hard nosed D and we’ll be set for 2012-2013.

Looks like the cast at HNIC will drive the final stake in to Burke after a very stupid trade. Who trades a young D-man with upside for a offen injured third liner who needs hip surgey. Unless you want to screw the team that going to fire you lol. It’s all good, Leafs will suck again. HNIC will still shove them down our thoarts on Saturday nights. Thank good for RDS.

It’s pretty funny reading comments on TSN about the Leafs getting Matt Finn in the second round. I don’t mean it’s funny how they think he’s better than he is, because I’m sure the scouting reports are right in that he’s quite a solid Dman who could have gone in the first round.

I mean it’s funny reading how, as fans, they suddenly remember that a good defense is necessary to win games (or championships as they put it) – of course, they don’t really address the goaltending issue – in order to console themselves for not picking forwards during the draft.

JVR for SCHENN holy crap i am hammered but that is an awesome trade by the weeds, JVR and Max are great friends and work out bro’s, would have loved to see Bergevin pull the trigger on a trade to acquire JVR

We Would have had to give them a Flyer in the making like Tinordi,, no way the game has changed, you need to be bigger stronger and a tight team to win in today’s NHL.. Guys that go to war for each other,, brother’s in arms…

we mighta been able to package, with the number of young defenseman coming up i think it might have been a possibility. But you do bring up a good point though. Its how philly perceives Schenn. I think its just wishful thinking on my part, I’m a fan of JVR’s

…do You know what I like and enjoy about Mike Boone in HIO ?
…He says His thing, puts it out there …and, if someOne tells Him He’s full of shite, He doesn’t come-back with invective, or get into ‘a debate’ with You
…Mike doesn’t talk with arrogance like He knows ‘everything …which He assuredly does not
…Mike talks like a Fan of Our beloved Team …Mike, Dave and whoever else behind the curtains at The Gazette, have created a platform for Us similar, maybe more over-exuberant types to get together and ‘talk’ hockey’, especially ‘Habs’ Hockey’
…HIO wasn’t meant to scream at each other, or those with egos larger than Texas to Lord-over either the more thoughtful, the clowns, jocks or ‘idiots’ among Us
…I mean sometimes it’s necessary to take a verbal swing at an egregious cretin …but, after getting it quickly out of Your system, don’t carry-it on for endless posts
…because, then, You only create Ad Hominem for Yourself, and bore to tears Others reading who could not give crap what Your personal issues or sensitivities are
…Mike is not perfect, He gets ‘off-base’ occasionally …but His non-reactionary, non-personal, humorous and wry style makes Us ‘comfortable’ to read Him, and return over and over again to this great Meeting Place
…I hope He sticks around a bit longer
…no, more than ‘a bit’ longer

Very well put. I use his live blogs as a kind of barometer like another Habs fan on my couch with me to let me know if I’ve just seen what I thought I saw. It’s a very much appreciated service and I hope the rumours are false.

I hope Mike stays too, how did this all start anyways????
I like everything about this site.
The live blogs. The links. The videos.
I like reading the debates on here between people it gives different perspectives. As long as there are no personal attacks or lines crossed who cares?

…I read a couple people mentioning the uncertainty of Boone remaining with HIO …which, if true, is very disappointing, and worse inconceivable that HIO would survive His absence
…and, likewise, I agree it’s only when ‘debates’ become ‘personal’ that I resent and turn-off

I watched video of Trevor Timmins being interviewed today on Habs website : got the sense he feels valued / enthusiastic about what he is bringing to the table.
Perhaps this is his general demeanour – not having seen much of him I wonder if he came across the same way under the former management regime.
Thoughts ?

Totally agree! If not for his draft postion he would not be much talked about. For a “skilled” player with “nice hands” he seems to score very few nice goals, from what i’ve seen in highlights he scores more like Tie Domi.

Making the the Habs would be great if he plays quality mins. Excelling in junior isn’t a bad thing. He needs to play whether it’s the big club or not.This is when you are experimenting and growing. Confidence is what he needs.

If he’s the big first centre we’ve been looking for, it does us no favours putting him on any line below 2, and it does us no favours putting him on LW. If anything make room for him by putting Pleky on the wing, it’s not like he wins any faceoffs anyways.

I think the leafs got rid of Schenn because he fell a long way last year from the top four status that they expected of him. Before last season Burke was hot on Schenns brother as he thought both of them would turn out to be stars. Schenns stock slipped a long way in the last 365 days. I think Burke won this deal.
Schenn -in my opinion- was very overrated

Does the James Van Riemsdyk trade to Toronto now means that Philly is gona be in hot pursuit of Bobby Ryan. Wasn’t there talk of Burke going after Ryan? Which didnt make sense because wasnt Carlyle Ryan’s coach in Anaheim uncomfortably for both.

Yes the info I posted was a true report I heard .. and not on twitter.
I hesitate to ascribe right now because I was not able to catch as much of the details as I would have liked.

Essentially the report was that Molson received an email warning of the ‘repercussions’ of another ‘anglais’ coach.

Now your premise that Crawford did in fact have the job was not part of the report…. Crawford at that time was rumoured to be ahead of Therrien… and it was after Hartley was out of the picture.

Dont think it’s important now because any concerns re Therrien, in my eyes, have been assuaged by the skillful way Bergevin has gone about putting his fingerprints on the assistant coaching positions and the AHL staff. Clear clue of this is the interview, which was on HABS website, of Bergevin explaining ‘his’ hire of Lefebvre and essentially removal of Jodoin from that job.

Maybe its my anti Leaf bias but I’m not convinced that the Leafs won this trade. I understand that JVR has been very productive in the playoffs and i may be selling that part short but during the regular season he is a bit of an underachiever. I watch a handful of flyer games a year and am far from an expert but this deal seems to be a trade of huge potential, perhaps a bit underachieving young players. Young defenseman sometimes take longer to develop so its possible the flyers could win this trade. Or maybe its just my anti Leaf bias. 🙂